Patched Hearts
by The Cliffhanger Girl
Summary: Clare ripped his heart out, he know's it, he feels it missing and yearns for it back everyday...but, it's a rare kind of love when she shakily places the pieces back together...


Hey guys! Long time no update...aha just kidding, I updated yesterday! But uh, I had this one-shot and since Toy Soldier was such a hit, I thought "Why the hell not upload this one?" So, without further or do, please enjoy this one-shot I'd like to call "PATCHED HEARTS"...

**A Special Thanks To My Beta Reader**-SomeoneNamedLiz

**Please Review! :D **

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><p><strong><span>PATCHED HEARTS<span>**

_**Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you never met. **_

Every day, Eli Goldsworthy watches the girl he loves walk hand in hand with the boy who stole her heart away. He watches every step she takes, whether it be from English to Math or, the Degrassi doors to her house.

_**He watches.**_

He might not be brave enough to say that this is all wrong, that he had done wrong with her the first time around. He might not admit it out loud, but he admits it to himself, every day, in his mind.

Maybe Clare had been right; maybe moving on in separate directions should be the right thing to do. After all that he put her through, the Julia situation, the hoarding, the Stalker Angel, the out breaks of strange emotions and everything that he did, scared her away.

_**It was like a game of cat and mouse.**_

But now, that Eli had witnessed with his own two eyes THE Clare Edwards, walking side by side with Jake Martin, he can't help but feel his heart drop into his stomach at a painful height.

Clare, Eli always found her so mysterious, so bound that at times in their relationship, he could only read her from her eyes and not through her words. After a while, Eli knew that it wasn't just a _'trust' _issue, it was him.

_**It was always...him.**_

He had officially scared her away, scared her defenseless little body away and now that he can't even fathom the thought of her being with _**him**_, he just stares, but, only for a small amount of time of course.

_**Sometimes, Eli imagines that she's giggling with him, gripping hands with him and talking...to him.**_

He scoffs when she sees him sneak up on her, wrapping his big, strong, lumber jack arms around her and then, his lips curl into a twitching grin when Jake presses his, as Eli saw them, rough, cold lips against her precious pink ones.

_**All that Eli thinks about is her.**_

_It has not become an obsession quite yet, nor a habit, more of...what many people call a 'healthy' lifestyle for him._

_"Can I talk to you? Please,"_ Eli would beg Clare, beg and plead for her presence, only for just a moment, just for a measly second so he can stare into her eyes and feel that Jake wasn't in between them and no one could stop them from being happy.

Of course, Clare would respond with a,_ "Eli, I'm sorry but I don't have time for these mind games anymore."_

_**Mind games, Eli's favorite thing to do, mess with her mind.**_

He thinks it's funny to see Clare struggle mentally, like the time when she was working with Jake on the play because she thought Eli was going to_ 'hurt'_ him or something along the lines of putting poor, baby Jake in danger.

Eli, would only fake a smile and say, _"I'm sorry for wasting your time."_

Clare, was always one to push people who cared away when she really needed them the most. She was the girl that Eli could never quite define in words, he would only have to show her to people to explain what she really meant to him, what she really did to help him, mentally and physically.

As Eli would walk away, face down, his eyes glaring at the squeaking floor beneath his shoes and tears streaming down his face, he would whisper to himself, _"Everything is going to be fine."_

Although Eli knew that this was just a lie, he didn't know that Clare was always staring at his backside, watching him walk down the hallway alone, taking the viscous world...alone.

_**The whole time that Eli was watching, she was too.**_

_**...But, he didn't know.**_

_"You're breaking up with me, at prom?"_ Clare said loudly, over the blaring DJ music that surrounded her and Jake as Eli couldn't help but stop everything he was doing to just smirk, watching the scene unravel...

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><p>On a hot summer day, in the middle of July, Eli stared at his phone, wishing it would buzz with someone offering him a trip to the moon or any place where he would feel like Clare wouldn't pop up into his mind.<p>

_"Honey, it's time for dinner,"_ Cece called out to her son, hoping that he would eat.

Eli shook his head, continuing to glare at his phone, knowing that Clare and him had shared a moment in the tragic events of his best friend being shot at prom. Although he was by Adam's side, so was Clare.

It was funny because, now that Jake and Clare were history, Eli had all the time in the world to stare at her beside him, crying her eyes out with just the glance of her broken best friend in the hospital bed...but this time, he doesn't feel guilty.

_"Maybe it wasn't meant to be,"_ Clare's words echoed through Eli's mind everyday and every night since they escaped those beautiful lips.

All that Eli saw this as, was an opportunity and a hint. A hint that, hey you know maybe if you and him weren't meant to be, maybe this all happened because...you and I were meant to be.

This was all that Eli saw the break up as...an opportunity, perhaps even a chance. A chance that Clare would soon realize how much she needed Eli because sooner or later, if she didn't realize it, he would soon crash beneath the pressure of hoping that she would come to her 'senses'.

That rainy summer night, Eli had drifted off into a distraught slumber, his phone now in his hands.

He nearly jumped out of his skin, feeling the phone vibrate in his cold hands as he glanced down at it, blinking a couple of times to make sure he read the name right or if his mind was just playing another cruel trick.

"How about that talk?" Clare asked through heaving sobs on the other line of his cellular device, nearly making Eli go into cardiac arrest.

Eli planned this whole thing out, for weeks, that when Clare would call him, he would answer with a cool tone. Not making her grow any suspicion that she was all he was thinking about since they broke up and how he would lure her in.

_**But now, that it's actually happening, he was speechless.**_

"I know I've hurt you Eli and man, it really hurts to think about how badly I did, but at this point, even if you put your phone down and left it on for me to talk, I'd do it because that's how desperate I am for someone to just listen to me," she whispered as Eli could hear her teeth chatter lowly, making Eli wonder where the hell she was.

"W-where are you?" He asked, clueless as to what was the situation at hand.

"See, the funny thing is," she laughed in between her sentence, making Eli's heart flutter with ecstasy as she then continued, "I kind of, sort of hoped that you would forgive me for being such an asshole to you and right now, at this moment, I'm uh, standing across the street from your house."

Eli jumped to his feet, moving his dark shades to only see the girl, the hopeless romantic of a girl that he fell in love with across the street, standing in the pouring rain with a forced grin on her face.

_**What Clare didn't expect to happen, was the shades being ruffled and her phone call, being ended.**_

She laughed, her sobs turning into painful chest heavings as the rain poured on top of her, mixing with her tears as she glared at the house that was once her sanctuary...

He hung up on her, he was really done with her and it took a moment for Clare to register the fact that the whole time she with Jake, she had pushed Eli further and further away.

_"I'm so stupid,"_ she mumbled to herself, rain getting caught between her lips.

As Clare started to walk away, she didn't expect to hear the slam of a door and then her name being frantically called out repeatedly. She forced herself to say that it was just her imagination and to keep moving.

_**But, when she did what she forced herself to do, a hand tugged at her forearm, causing her to turn around.**_

"What are you doing in this rain, Clare? You're going to get sick," Eli told her, holding the umbrella over her as she wrapped her arms around herself, her lip quivering as Eli continued to get soaked because he was only covering Clare.

"I don't care," she said, a real smile curling up on her lips as Eli asked, "Why aren't you at home Clare? It's four o' clock in the morning, why are you walking around aimlessly with just a tank top and shorts on? Someone could've-."

Clare watched as Eli ranted about the situations at hand that could've happened with her roaming around in the middle of a stormy summer night, with the least amount of clothing she could have on.

_**But, right now, Clare couldn't help but smile knowing that...someone had never stopped caring about her.**_

"Why are you smiling Clare? This isn't funny you could've-," Clare cut Eli off by saying over the pouring rain that hid the puddles, "You never stopped loving me, did you Eli?"

Eli sighed, not wanting to admit his true feeling for Clare if there really wasn't any hope for them in the future. He didn't want to pour his heart out to the girl that ripped his heart out and stomped on it right before his very fragile eyes.

_**What did he have to lose?**_

He shook his head violently and laughed, "Now, why would I stop doing something that I love?"

Clare giggled, his hand touching her throbbing bicep as she felt the warmth of his hand caress her, not only making her feel wanted, but making her feel as if someone was whispering lightly 'He loves you'.

She smiled when he said, "Clare, it's really not good for you to be out here...we can, talk or something inside. I don't want you getting sick and I definitely don't want your parents thinking you're missing so, why don't we go back inside and you can call your parents, tell them you're okay."

Eli couldn't help but question her laugh as she said, "Everything's not okay Eli...I'd be lying if I told them that."

He sighed, now understanding that Clare's family problem with Jake, her mom and his dad getting married might have hit her harder than he had thought. Maybe it was because their break up was a sign of relief for Eli, but just another wall being built between Clare and her mom.

"It's going to be okay Clare! I promise!" He told her, reassuring her doubt that she would be alone.

"Oh yeah? How can you promise that?" She asked, the rainfall dripping down his face as he laughed, "I've always been here for you Clare. I've been with you through the divorce and hell, I'll be there for you through the wedding!"

Clare smiled and asked, "Do you really mean that?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," he whispered as he wrapped his arms around the fragile girl, her body shaking violently in his arms as he smiled; now knowing that Clare had never given up on him, ever.

_**They both must have been just, lost.**_

Clare slowly lowered him to the soaking wet floor, bringing him down with her as he asked, "Do you really want to stay out here?"

_**She nodded as he smiled, her uniqueness making his heart race as he leaned against a neighbor's house...**_

"Thanks Eli," she mumbled as he wrapped his arms around her, the warmth of his body now taking over her as he rubbed his hands up and done her goose bump-filled arms.

"For what?" He asked, his words muffled because her hair had been so close to his face. It nearly made his eyes roll to the back of his head with pleasure because of the way her hair smelled, intoxicating.

"For just, being here..." her sentence trailed off and then she took a deep breath, snaking her arm around his waist as the umbrella kept the both of them dry, "And, for just being you."

Eli Goldsworthy, fell in love with a girl named Clare Edwards, a dainty blue eyed girl with the hopes of having a night and shining armor sweep her off her feet every time that she was in need.

But now, that Eli was going to be around much more often, Clare didn't have to hope, because her knight shining armor was and will always be, by her side.

END

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><p><strong>So, reviews?<strong> No...alrightie then, I tried. *hopeful smile*

Love you guys,

Cliffhanger Girl

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